University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker woke early Monday morning to find that his home in Huntington Woods, a heavily Jewish suburb of Detroit, had been the target of anti-Israel vandals for the second time in just over six months. Acker’s law office was also vandalized over the summer.

During the overnight attack, a window in the Acker home was smashed and his wife’s car was graffitied with the words “divest” and “free Palestine.” In addition, authorities found fragments of a glass jar inside the house along with a foul-smelling liquid as well as a second jar outside of the home. The attack unfolded while Acker, his wife and three daughters were asleep.

“This keeps happening to my family because I’m Jewish,” Acker told Jewish Insider. “There are other, more prominent, regents on this board who do not face this type of targeted harassment, and the reason they do not is because they are not Jewish.”

Acker expressed disappointment in an interview with JI over the silence from university groups, such as The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, who he said “have decided to put out statements about Gaza, and yet never put out a statement about situations like this. I haven’t heard from anyone there today. Being privately appalled doesn’t stop your students from engaging in behaviors like this. Public statements do.” 

Acker, an attorney and former Obama administration official, who has sat on the university’s Board of Regents since he was elected in 2018, also criticized the lack of response from local law enforcement. 

“There have yet to be any arrests in all of this,” he said, referring to the three incidents targeting him, as well as several acts of vandalism that occurred on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, targeting the Jewish Federation of Detroit and University of Michigan President Santa Ono’s private residence. 

In a statement on Monday, the Huntington Woods Police Department said that the “case is being investigated by our department in cooperation with other local, state and federal agencies.” 

The University of Michigan called Monday’s vandalism “a clear act of antisemitic intimidation” in a statement. Acker declined to comment on whether the university will provide his family with security, but noted that “we’re going to take a different security posture moving forward.” 

In a statement to JI, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that “the antisemitic vandalism of University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker’s home and car is unacceptable. This was a criminal act of targeted hatred on an elected official’s personal property because he is Jewish.” “Several members of Congress,” in addition to Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), reached out privately to Acker early this morning, he told JI, noting that he “absolutely” hoped all of the statements would be made public. 

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) was the first lawmaker in Michigan to publicly condemn the incident. “Jordan Acker is a dedicated public servant and he and his family should be safe in their own home,” Stevens wrote on X. “I am sickened by the anti-Semitic attack on his home last night. Vandalism, violence, and bigotry have no place in America. Enough. Our Jewish brothers and sisters deserve to live in security and peace.”

Later in the day, Slotkin, as well as Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), whose district includes Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is located, and Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) put out statements. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) did not respond to a request for comment from JI about the incident. 

Slotkin echoed Acker’s call for law enforcement to take swift action.

“This is targeted hate meant to intimidate and threaten him and his family, and law enforcement has a responsibility to move quickly to connect the dots and do something about it,” Slotkin said in a statement. “This is not activism or free speech on behalf of a cause — indeed this criminal activity undercuts the very cause they purport to care about.” 

Dingell wrote on X, “This anti-Semitic vandalism is unacceptable, dangerous, and never okay. We cannot allow hatred and violence against anyone, for any reason to be normalized, and we must stand up to hate whenever and wherever we see it.” 

“Hate must be condemned in all of its forms. The latest antisemitic attacks against University of Michigan Regent @JordanAckerMI, the third since 10/7, are unacceptable. I urge @UMich to do more to prevent antisemitic attacks against Acker and Jewish students on campus,” Thanedar tweeted. 

In a statement to JI, Peters said, “There is no place in this country for antisemitic or other hateful rhetoric, threats, or acts of violence. These kinds of acts are dangerous and lead to greater fear and division in our communities.”  

In May, doorbell app footage at Acker’s home showed a stranger wearing a red keffiyeh over his face walking up to the front door and standing there for several moments. He placed papers on the doors and took photographs before leaving. The document, a list of demands for the leadership of the University of Michigan, was signed: “In liberation, the UMich Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” 

One month later, Acker’s personal injury law office in the heavily Jewish Detroit suburb of Southfield, was vandalized overnight with the phrases “FREE PALESTINE,” “DIVEST NOW,” “F*** YOU ACKER” and “UM KILLS” scrawled on the walls, walkway and front window.

Jewish Insider’s congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed reporting.